Book 16: Eat to Live

Eat to Live is by Joel Furhman, M.D., who has spent years researching the connection between diet and disease-prevention. He has a lot of research to back up his claims that a super-healthy diet can prevent heart disease, adult-onset diabetes, chronic headaches, cancer, depression, etc... Some diseases can even be reversed by a very healthy diet.

Even if you don't believe it, here's the thing: it's not some crazy, risky pills or anything. It's just a healthy diet. There's nothing to lose by trying it (except fat and feeling sluggish from eating poorly, and possibly risk of fatal diseases).

Basically, he advises us to re-draw the food pyramid, so the foundation of it is vegetables, and above that are fruits and beans. The next row is seeds, nuts, and whole grains. Then fat-free dairy and fish; then poultry, eggs, and oil. Finally, beef, sweets, cheese, processed foods, and hydrogenated oil are the littlest segment on the top.

It would be pretty difficult to abruptly make this entire transition, but I am trying to eat a lot more vegetables and fruits. He says to put a sign on your fridge that says, "The Salad Is the Main Dish." I don't have a sign on my fridge, but I do try to think that when I'm deciding what to eat. Hopefully it is becoming a habit for me to eat a lot more produce, because I have really gotten away from it. I know I feel a lot more energetic and I look better (less puffy-faced) when I eat more produce and fewer starches.